Well, that was quick. The defense rested yesterday, and today the Tiller jury took less than an hour to find him not guilty of all charges.
The Mahablog
Politics. Society. Group Therapy.
Well, that was quick. The defense rested yesterday, and today the Tiller jury took less than an hour to find him not guilty of all charges.
I’m glad for Dt. Tiller and his family. But I fear Kansas will just keep trying to find something to persecute him for.
Maybe we were all wrong about Kansas.
Maybe Kansans have finally woken up and said to themselves, “Toto, something tells me we’re not in Kansas anymore…”
I was born and raised Roman Catholic. The last few years with their stand on abortion, birth control, gay rights, the Church left me. I miss it.
I just heard that 170,000 signed a petition asking Notre Dame to rescind their invitation to Pres. Obama for the consignment address. I love the teaching of preferential option for(of?) the poor and many others. I hope they someday come back to me, but for now I just hope Pres. Obama speaks to the graduates of Notre Dame. They voted overwhelmingly for him. At least there is that.
The signers of this petition have no idea of the role they play in violence like that suffered by Dr. Tiller. So very glad to hear of his acquittal.
What is the Matter with Kansas??? (good book by the way.)
I’m thinking of my 14-year-old niece in Kansas, and all her BFFs, when I say: “Thank you, jurors, for doing the sane thing.”
Wonderful news! More evidence that the nutcases are simply a LOUD minority.
Same day an administrative body starts trying him. There’s no jury on that.
I hate administrative justice.
Ian, is the administrative body composed of OB/GYNs? If so, they should in fact be more understanding than the average Kansas jury. The American College of OB/GYNs has fought legal challenges to Roe v Wade for many, many years– in spite of the fact that, as Maha points out, it’s “better business” to make all those babies be “borned” (to borrow a phrase from the movie Juno).
Maybe I’m basing this too much on the Bush II years, but administrative panels from a given profession are usually more lenient than civil or criminal juries. Which is why I hate the SEC.
Hey what’s with this?… I don’t want to cast aspersions on the Lord Jesus; but with all his power and glory he can’t even secure a conviction against one of Satan’s henchmen? I bet if the Operation Rescue people had prayed to Apollo —Dr. Tiller would be sitting in the slammer right now.
Meanwhile, Randall Terry has taken his circus to South Bend to protest against Notre Dame for inviting President Obama to speak at the Notre Dame commencement, the assorted Catholic rightists are having a collective hissy fit over allowing Obama to speak, and the local bishop, D’Arcy, is boycotting the graduation ceremonies in a fit of ecclesiastical pique. I agree with dyedinthewoolliberal about the official Church line leaving me too, but there are still some of us left in the Church despite the wingnuts and the hierarchy. We have learned to tune them out and listen to our consciences.
Randall Terry? That desiccated, hate-flavored fruitcake is still around? Bleccch.
Well, if ND doesn’t want Obama to speak, fine. The university will just look petty and narrow-minded to the majority of Americans of many faiths who support Obama as president, whether or not they agree with him that abortion should be legal.
Obama is speaking at ND, and there are a lot of Catholics (like myself) who voted for him and uphold his right to speak at ND’s commencement. Unfortunately, the Catholic Right and the more reactionary members of the hierarchy seem to think they hold some divine right to determine which people have the right to speak at a Catholic university, which people have the right to call themselves Catholics, and have become increasingly reactionary and absolutist in their views.